Parliamentary Privilege and the Limits of Personal Liberty: A study on the immunity of members of parliament from arrest in Ghana

Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution: A Limited Procedural Immunity Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution provides: "No civil or criminal process coming from any court or place out of Parliament shall be served on, or executed in relation to, the Speaker or a member or the Clerk to Parliament while he is on his way to, attending at or returning from, any proceedings of Parliament.

The 1979 Constitution (the Constitution of the Third Republic) provided a more refined definition of parliamentary immunity in Article 97, providing that, subject to the provisions of this article, but without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of Article 96 of this Constitution, no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted against a member of Parliament in any Court or place out of Parliament for any matter or thing brought by him in or before Parliament by petition, bill, motion or otherwise.

Article 102 of the 1969 Constitution provided that Civil or criminal process coming from any court or place outside Parliament cannot be served on or executed against the Speaker, a Member, or the Clerk to Parliament while they are on their way to, attending at, or returning from any proceedings of Parliament.